Super Smash Bros eSports Committee Row Over All Male Panel

Professional Super Smash Bros: Melee player Adam “Armada” Lindgren has stepped down from the game’s rules committee, to open it up for more female representation.

On the 6th September, the community platform Melee It On Me, who spearhead the committee announced the 25 panellists who will vote on all future amendments to the official Super Smash Bros rules are all men. The five-member leadership panel who selected the 25 panellist are all men as well.

Matthew Zaborowski who serves as one of the 5 leader panellists tweeted that two women were “solid picks and were to be included, but we were informed they didn’t want to be on the panel.” Emily Sun who is one of the founders of Smash Sisters, stated that she was one of those two women however she initially declined the offer. She tweeted “if no one else is interested, I’d like to be on the panel.”

A day after the panel lineup was announced. Lindgren responded by tweeting “I would give up my spot if it means a girl gets a chance.” On the 9th September he stepped down from the committee stating in a video stream that:

“When I saw the tweet, and the tweet was like 20 hours old, and no one really had stepped up, I was thinking: what if I just leave my spot and open up the possibility for a girl?… It’s good for our community as well, if girls feel more welcome. A lot of them probably have knowledge that some of the competitors or TOs or commentators don’t have.”

On the 10th September Emily Sun then wrote a post which elaborates on the benefits of gender diversity on the Super Smash Bros: Melee rules panel stating that panellists who would vote on the amendments about “code of conduct guidelines – how we operate as a community and our interpersonal relationships have all proven to be super important.” She then listed several other women who would be perfect to take Lindgren’s place.

She also wrote that she had not intended to decline the offer of being on the panel stating “I didn’t know I was being asked. I had a casual conversation about it where I mentioned I was busy.”

Rob has been writing about video games since 2009 for various blogs and indie news outlets. Now deputy editor of the Green Man Gaming Newsroom, Rob is responsible for getting the most up to date news onto the site (much like everyone else here). He also loves all comic books and all things sci-fi. You can check out his community profile here.